Wednesday, April 28, 2010

John Munger calls on Buz Mills to leave race

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Munger is calling on businessman Owen "Buz" Mills to withdrawl from the state's Governor's race, saying that Mills' business dealings in Florida raise "serious questions" about his "fitness to govern and electability."

Florida court documents show that Mills defrauded a business partner out of millions of dollars when he sold a company that the two jointly owned. Mills was the majority owner with a 90 percent stake; his partner owned 10 percent.

In a 2001 ruling, Judge Paul Logan concluded that MIlls deliberately did not tell partner John G. Mortellite that he had an offer to sell their firm, which was in the business of acquiring sites for and building towers for the cell phone industry.

Because Mills did not disclose the sale offer to Mortellite, his partner accepted less money for his share in the company, the documents show.

The case was ultimately settled out of court.

Representatives from the Mills campaign did not immediately return calls seeking comment about Munger's letter. In news reports, Mills has said the issue is irrelevant to his political campaign.

But Munger, who is expected to be in a hotly contested primary race with Mills, Gov. Jan Brewer and state treasurer Dean Martin, disagrees.

On Wednesday, he hand-delivered a letter to Mills Phoenix's offices, formally asking him to withdrawl.

"At a time when there is already widespread distrust and anger toward government in general, your continued presence in the Governor's race will only do further damage to the reputation of our state and the Republican party," the letter read.

Munger told media that that Mills is "not an electable candidate," and that Mills continued presence in the race jeopardizes the state's reputation.